The harvest of French pomegranates began in mid-September and ended around the 20th of November. However, the season is far from over. Thanks to good preservation and a quality that is very satisfactory this year, producers still have volumes available. A welcome extension into the end-of-year festive period for a sector that is still in its infancy, but whose potential is growing all the time.
© France Grenade
Modest production that is set to grow strongly
The French Pomegranate Union (France Grenade) currently has 85 members growing pomegranates on around 150 hectares. "At present, only half of this area is actually in production. Many growers have not yet reached their full potential, while others have not started harvesting," explains Enora Jacob. This season, the total volume is around 600 tons. This volume is still modest, but it is set to grow rapidly. "In five years' time, when the orchards have reached maturity, we estimate that production could be between 2,000 and 2,500 tons. This year, the weather conditions were favorable, with little rain, resulting in well-shaped, high-quality fruit that keeps well. As pomegranates are a relatively easy fruit to store, we can offer them until the beginning of January, or even a little later in the winter when production grows."
© France Grenade A season of great commercial opportunities for processing
Today, around 30% of production is destined for the fresh market, the remainder being processed mainly into juice. "The aim is to get better organized in terms of packaging to develop sales of fresh fruit, and reserve the rest for processing," explains Enora Jacob. This season, the processing side has been particularly successful, with new outlets opening up. "Thomas Saleilles, of La Grenattitude, a company producing pomegranate juice, has increased his volumes thanks to new markets. There is demand but it sometimes exceeds the sector's current capacity. "We have had some major requests which we were not able to meet this year due to insufficient volumes. But it is very encouraging for the future."
Raising awareness of French pomegranates and their varieties
While demand is growing for both juice and fresh fruit, there is still a need to raise awareness, particularly of the different mouth-watering varieties that exist. "Buyers are asking for a lot of red pomegranates, whereas table pomegranates tend to be yellow," explains Enora Jacob. Growers are adapting to this demand by planting red varieties. "However, these yellow varieties are often sweeter, have fewer seeds and are harvested when ripe. Just because a pomegranate is yellow does not mean it is not ripe." France Grenade is fully committed to communicating and raising awareness of the diversity of varieties and their specific characteristics, in order to support the sustainable, high-quality development of the French pomegranate sector.
For more information:
Enora Jacob
Syndicat France Grenade
Bio de Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Bât FOOD'IN PACA - 2nd floor
885 chemin de la forêt
84140 AVIGNON
